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Engage Your Team

Have you ever had a boss that didn’t trust you? What about a co-worker that just can’t seem to cut you some slack? I know I sure have. I guess it’s pretty normal when you start a new job. But what about after you’ve been in a position for 6 months or a year or more? By that time, you’re probably hoping that the ‘cuffs will come off, right?

Well, they don’t always come off. And that’s a real bummer! Even if they do, you may still feel like there’s a lack of transparency holding you back. You know, like the boss closes his door to talk to other people in the department, but you’re left in the dark. Or what about the dinner meeting that you didn’t get invited to? Maybe you just feel like you are always the last to know what’s going on.

So, what’s the deal? How do you overcome this situation? First, let’s identify the root of the problem…

Culture is tough. It’s not easy to explain. It can be elusive and subjective. It can always be better and it can always be worse. Just in case you think yours can’t get any worse, try working for CEO Oliver Queen at Queen Industries. I’m pretty sure that his leadership style is the poster child for absentee landlord.

Organizational culture is something that just exists. It’s not something that many of us want to try and change. It does change, but it’s not usually in our control. Over time…rules change, people change, and boom, culture changes. However, there is a magic that can happen when groups of people are determined to make something happen. In the case of automaker Ford’s turn around, that’s exactly how they did it.

Check out the short video below of an interview with VP of Marketing James Farley, where he talks about this decision:

Question: Does an organization have to be desperate in order to change?

“People are set in their ways, closed minded, and are mostly unwilling to listen new ideas. You just have to accept that and prove them wrong.”

These are the words that a consultant recently spoke to me. Personally, I struggle with believing this. I don’t like to pigeon hole people and make those kind of dangerous judgments. I’d rather believe that people are smart, innovative, and unlimited in their approach, and mostly determined to be successful.

Let’s face it, no matter what you do for a living, there are probably aspects of your job that are just plain monotonous and all out boring! As a matter of fact, your entire job may be boring (hopefully not)…

Either way, the video I’m sharing below showcases something and someone that is very unique. This person is turning his job (and a very boring part of it) into something special – art. Watching this makes me ask myself how I could turn my less exciting activities into art. Why settle for boring?? Check it out:

Lately, I’ve noticed a trend. I often interact with very smart people that have completely underestimated their capabilities. I typically resort to the tactic of telling them how great they are and how much more they could do if they didn’t have this self-limiting belief. Unfortunately, that doesn’t typically do more than give them a short-term ego boost.

Here’s a really cool concept that I came across recently. If you’ve ever learned anything about different languages, you know that there are sometimes words and concepts, in those languages, that don’t exist in English. These ideas can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around, but are often very insightful.

In this case Sweden, Denmark, and Norway may be able to teach us a thing or two about “happiness” at “work”.

Watch this video to find out about arbejdsglaede…yep, that really is a word:

Many Hollywood movies have inspired us with their version of “leadership” over the years. Maybe none more than those focusing on ship captains or submarine captains at the helm. That’s why when I saw this video posted over at http://greenmango.cc/blog/ I was truly intrigued.

This video is based on a real story of a submarine captain that was faced with the challenge of flipping decades of leadership dogma on it’s head so that he could literally turn the worst performing ship in the navy around to be the best.

In currently reading his book (“Turn This Ship Around”) and hope to share more with you soon. In the meantime, please enjoy:

I read articles quite often that talk about the importance of telling a story in order to brand an organization. More often than not, those articles tend to link branding and customer loyalty. Lately though, I’ve been looking into another important aspect of a company’s story…employee engagement.

From my research, it seems there IS a direct correlation to engaged teams and a powerful story. Here’s what I found out:

Your Mission Is Just One Piece of The Puzzle

I first learned about this from Dave Ramsey in Entreleadership. The Lampo Group is a company that wears its mission on its sleeve:

The Lampo Group provides biblically based, common-sense education and empowerment that gives HOPE to everyone in every walk of life.”

Of course, this is a rare case where you can bring faith into work. Most people would say that this just isn’t normal. Hmm. Not normal? I think that is what we are going for here, right? The title of this site is not Corporate Culture Normalcy.

Recently, I watched a team of people agree to start an initiative that they didn’t necessarily believe in. Their boss was so passionate about the topic that the team didn’t have the heart to tell him that his idea was probably too lofty and most likely unattainable. In the weeks that followed, I watched that initiative fall apart. What a waste…or was it?